Gbenga Hashim: We Shall Rebuild Damaged Bridges of National Unity

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

A former presidential candidate and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has declared that he is irrevocably committed to repairing Nigeria’s damaged bridges of national unity.

According to him, Nigeria’s disunity is occasioned by the manipulation of the country’s ethnic religious fault lines by desperate and failed politicians who use divisive strategies such as zoning and other extra constitutional measures to hold the nation’s polity to ransom.

Olawepo-Hashim spoke  at an interaction with senior media executives in Lagos at the weekend, a statement released by his media team said.

“Despite the fact that Nigeria’s electorate has demonstrated over and over again that they care less about where a leader comes from, a new tribe of political opportunists continue to distract the nation and the polity from clear issues of economic development and security which is the urgent concern of most Nigerians whether they are Northerners or Southerners,” he stated.

At the end of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the PDP in Abuja last week, the party zoned the 2027 presidential ticket to the Southern part of the country, an act the statement said has sparked wide condemnation among party members especially from the North. 

It said that many have called the decision  retrogressive and against the Constitution and capable of pitching the North against  the South.

“We on our part shall continue to rally the nation around issues that unite us rather than issues that divide us. Commitment to National Unity was what defined the politics of the founding fathers of our nation. 

“That was why Dr Herbert Macaulay, a Yoruba man, could hand over NCNC to Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, a Nigerian of Igbo descent. That was why Chief Obafemi Awolowo could rally support for Ernest Ikoli an Ijaw man in Lagos during the Western regional election as against the aspiration of a fellow ijebu man, Sam Akinsanya for the presidency of the Nigerian Youth Movement/Lagos Legislative Council.”

“It was the same spirit of commitment to national unity that was demonstrated when the legendary Joseph  Tarka, the political leader of the Tiv nation, rallied behind Kashim Ibrahim a Kanuri muslim  man to win the Gboko constituency, a Christian Tiv dominated constituency during Northern regional election in first Republic,” he argued.

In recent memory, he continued, the people of Kano voted massively for Chief Mko Abiola against a bonafide and accomplished indigene of Kano, Alhaji Bashir Tofa in the June 12 1993 presidential elections. 

He emphasised:  “We draw our inspiration from the noble spirit of commitment to national unity passed down by our heroes past, we shall not allow the lit flame of unity in diversity to be distracted  by the activities of some political rascals polluting the polity with the filthy lucre that they have gathered from the public till. On our own part, we shall endeavour to amplify the best in us not our worst.”